Transferrin is an iron binding protein found in blood plasma that is critical to cell health.

Transferrin supplies iron to cells naturally in the body and as a supplement in cell culture media.

Transferrin in Cell Culture

In cell culture, transferrin is added to cell culture media to increase the quality and quantity of cells by ensuring that the cells are adequately supplied with iron. Transferrin also maintains cellular iron homeostatis by helping cells regulate how much iron they absorb from the extracellular environment. Transferrin is a universal iron carrier and is able to deliver iron to cells without causing free radical molecules that are typically formed when iron chelators or other sources of iron are added to cell culture media. Oxidative reactions from excess iron in cell culture media leads to free radical molecules that can cause damage to cells. Iron chelators are commonly associated with excessive iron in cell culture media, so replacing these components with an iron source designed to optimize cell performance is preferred. Several cell types including stem cells and primary cells require the use of transferrin because the use of iron chelators or other iron products cause cell death.

Transferrin as a cell culture supplement can be sourced through bovine blood or human blood, but these sources carry safety concerns including risk of viral or prion contamination and problems with inconsistency across product lots. Optiferrn, produced in an animal-free, recombinant system (See ExpressTec) provides all the benefits of transferrin, without the inconsistency or safety concerns.

Other Transferrin Information

Transferrin is a glycoprotein of about 80 kilodaltons in size, with two binding sites for iron. It binds to and transports iron throughout the body using blood circulation. In addition to its use as a cell culture media supplement, transferrin can also be used in drug delivery as a conjugation (fusion) partner to stabilize and improve the pharmacokinetics of certain therapeutically-important biomolecules. It efficiently transports these biomolecules and links with key cell receptors, providing intracellular delivery.

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